Good morning and welcome to day 31 of the guardian.co.uk's daily live World Cup blog, wherever you are in the world ... So, after 63 games and 144 goals, South Africa 2010 is close to its dying breath. And, after tonight's final, we'll be submerged in a month's worth of gossip, rumour, pre-season friendlies and transfer news. So enjoy it while you can ...

10am: As always, we hope this blog will provide news, predictions, pontifications, colour from our team in South Africa, plus lots of pointing outwards; to your comments below the line, to the best things we've seen on the web and to various World Cup randomania. The plan is to update the blog from now until our minute-by-minute coverage of Holland v Spain commences at 7pm this evening.

10.05am: So, your predictions for tonight?

10.08am: Did anyone hear Mandla Mandela, the grandson of Nelson Mandela, accuse Fifa of putting "extreme pressure" on the former South African president to attend tonight's World Cup final on Radio 5 earlier? It was strong stuff. Mandela, who said his grandfather was yet to decide whether to go to Soccer City tonight because he was still in mourning for his great granddaughter Zenani, added:

"The family has really taken a step back from a lot of activities and we've been mourning the loss of Zenani. So we've come under extreme pressure from Fifa requiring and wishing that my grandfather be at the final today. But I think that decision will solemnly lie with him, how he wakes up today, how he feels, what his medical team says, but as well his family. They (Fifa) said that (president) Sepp Blatter wished that my grandfather comes out to the final. I think people ought to just understand the family's traditions and customs and understand we've had a loss in the family and we are in mourning and that for me would be enough reason to leave the family to be for now. Their focus is having this world icon in the stadium, yet not really paying attention to our customs and traditions as a people and as a family."

10.25am So what's your team of the tournament? Mine, in zeitwotsit 4-2-3-1 formation, and with a self-imposed rule that players can only be put in positions they actually played in the tournament (i.e no Lahm at left-back) would be: Enyeama; Maicon, Lucio, Nelsen, Coentrao; Boateng, Schweingsteiger; Mueller, Ozil, Villa; Forlan. Subs: Neuer, Lahm, Carvalho, Xabi Alonso, Klose, Iniesta, Xavi. RS

10.34am What's your goal of the tournament? Here's the BBC's shortlist. It feels a bit meatheaded to pick a long-range screamer, like ordering a pint of Carling in a Bierodrome, but I think I have to go for Giovanni van Bronckhorst: he was 41 yards out for heaven's sake and, better still, he tamed the Jabulani, a feat right up there with Katy Perry taming Russell Brand.

It hasn't been a great tournament for great goals – contrast with, say, 1986 – although Fabio Quagliarella's was a gem and David Villa's against Honduras and Chile (a strangely underrated effort, as if striking first time into an empty net from the touchline with your wrong foot in a match where your team faces the mother of all ignominious exits was easy) were extremely classy. RS

10.42am The teams have not been officially announced, but we think we know what they are. Both sides exhibit the two main tactical trends of the tournament, and indeed modern football: 4-2-3-1 and wide forwards playing on the 'wrong' side.

Fair enough, or would you deviate in any way if you woke up from your afternoon nap in the body of Vicente del Bosque or Bert van Marwijk.

RS

10.44am Here's a tweet from our own Owen Gibson

So Blatter deigns to speak to BBC but only on condition he's not asked about goalline tech. As @pkelso said on air – says a lot about him

10.46am And here's one from the Telegraph's Ian Chadband.

Just seen Javier Zanetti wandering through Sandton on final day. Should have been here from the start. Pity no one told Diego

10.54am Thirty-two years it's been. Thirty-two years since Holland were last in the World Cup final. They still say, only half-jokingly, that they would not have got out of the stadium alive had they won. And they so nearly did. The amazing thing about Rob Rensenbrink hitting the post in injury time is that the ball was actually going in until it kicked like a leg break to hit the face of the post. The football history of two countries determined by an improbable bounce, and all because a butterfly flapped its wings in Arkansas, or wherever. RS

11.14am This is a decent post from jforbes

Goals wise it not been up to the standard of 2006. Think it should be a team goal rather than a individual on to reflect a tournament dominated by team rather than individual performances - so from the BBC list it would have to be Klose.

This has definitely been the tournament of the collective, an anti-galactican jamboree. Consider the performances of the top 10 in last year's Ballon d'Or: Messi, Ronaldo, Xavi, Iniesta, Eto'o, Kaka, Ibrahimovic, Rooney, Gerrard, Drogba. Only Xavi and Iniesta have done much of note, and they are part of the ultimate team. Ibrahimovic went missing on the big stage again. RS

11.25am Here's a post from LArsenal23.

Rob, no Sneijder in your team? I reckon he's had a better world Cup than Ozil, tbh.

I think most people would agree, but I honestly can't remember Sneijder doing much at all. He scored a decent goal against Japan, albeit aided by a goalkeeper being Jabulanied; he scored a tap in against Slovakia; he scored one goal against Brazil – not two, Fifa, you bloody vandals – and that was an instinctive header from two yards; and he scored a goal against Uruguay that was deflected, offside and probably going wide anyway. So he has maybe 3.25 goals in the tourmanent. I don't remember many assists to compare with Ozil's against Australia, England and Argentina.

Sneijder is an exquisite player, the sort of classy, minimalist footballer we all wanted to be as a boy, but I don't think he has got near his Inter form over the last four weeks. Ozil, though to some extent on the periphery of the matches against Argentina and Spain, still oozed class in possession. And, as Lee Dixon pointed out on Match of the Day last night, to see a young player with such an understanding of that particular position is extremely unusual.

I suppose also, when you pick these sides, there's an element of wanting to mix the old and the new. Of course Xavi has been better than Kevin-Prince Boateng in this tournament – he's Xavi, for goodness sake – but Boateng's mischief and carpe diem attitude are one of the abiding memories of the tournament for me. He played so far above himself, while Xavi has been just marginally below his best. I'm rambling now, so let's end this post here. RS

11.28am This from the excellent Tom Williams, who covers French football for Agence France-Presse (AFP)

Jeremy Toulalan tells Le Journal du Dimanche that France player strike was unanimous, so punishments must be collective. Toulalan: "I have huge regrets. I'm not proud of it but I accept responsibility. We were all involved. Whoever says otherwise is a liar." Toulalan also admits being partly involved in writing of player statement read out by Raymond Domenech. SI

11.35am Now look, we all love Thomas Mueller round here. He's articulate, decent and, on the field, a supreme example of intelligence and resourcefulness. If he doesn't win the Young Player of the Tournament award, it's a scandal (Mesut Ozil wasn't on the shortlist, which is an even bigger scandal). But as things stand, he is going to win the Golden Boot – the prize for scoring the most goals at the World Cup – not because he scored more goals than the competition, but because he created more.

Yep, folks, Fifa has made another complete balls up of something so simple that even a foetus could work it out. Previously the Golden Boot could be shared, as it was in 1962 and 1994, but Fifa have now decided that we must have a winner; with four players (Mueller, Villa, Forlan and, officially at least, Sneijder) on five goals, it will go to the man with the most assists. What an abject farce, another in a long list from these clowns. RS

11.38am "That clip of the 1978 final highlights exactly what we've been missing in this tournament," says Andy Smith. "No, not biased refereeing, not cynical fouls but a benchful of bad leather jackets smoking themselves senseless. PS balls to the psychic octopus, we gave our toddler the run of the H&M baby football shirts before the tournament started and he choose the Spanish one. Just saying."

11.51am "So Xavi, with 569 passes in six games, will break Dunga's record for most passes tonight," says Gary Naylor. "But those six matches, not all against world-class opposition, have yielded just seven goals. Spain's football is laudable, but it's defensive (unlike in Euro 2008 in which it was gloriously uninhibited) and undeserving of all the praise heaped upon it. They play football like a good basketball team holding possession with pass and move - it's why basketball has a 30-second clock to ensure a shot is taken and move the game on. If Spain chose to shoot more frequently within 30 seconds of gaining possession, they'd be a much better watch. Spain will win tonight, but are much more likely to win ugly than win as they did in 2008."

I do think Spain have been just slightly indulgent in this tournament – or maybe it's stubborness, a tiki-taka two fingers to the naysayers – and I don't think they will go down as one of the great World Cup winners, yet I still find the criticism of them utterly bizarre. Particularly the moral aspect: when Spain play, there is one team trying to score one more than the opposition, and one team trying to concede one fewer. If Spain's games are relatively boring in comparison to 2008, it's only because teams are parking the bus, the tank, the fishing rod, the dressing gown and the can of lager. Blaming Spain! The nerve of it!

(Yes, yes, I realise many of you completely disagree with the above. Cool your jets. We're all friends here. Ish.) RS

12.06pm One thing we haven't yet discussed is Howard Webb. Here, David Brent hears the news of Fifa's appointment. RS

12.11pm Everyone says Webb has had a great tournament but, while he has been less error-prone and less ostentatious than usual, he still failed to give Spain a clear penalty in the first half against Switzerland, an error that left Spain in serious danger of going out in the first round This mistake has been airbrushed by Webb's ludicrous cheerleaders on the BBC and ITV, whose inadvertently patronising support for him evokes that scene in American Beauty: "Ya didn't screw up once!"RS

12.22pm Here's more from Gary Naylor on the Spain thing:

Rob - Play the tiki-taki at 2-0, maybe even at 1-0, but at 0-0, it's indulgent. Remember how close Chelsea were to knocking out Barcelona in the CL in 2009, before Iniesta finally deigned to shoot? And it isn't the job of inferior teams to go out and try to score - their job is to try to find a way to win. That means keeping it tight in the first half then opening up a little in the second and maximising the possession that comes in the opposition half and not wasting set-pieces.

Blaming Spain? I don't blame Spain - they too have found a way to win. But let's not pretend that futbol-style triangles for their own sake is exciting - it's too one-paced for too long. Let's see the passing, but let's see an injection of pace with the killer ball or dribble too

.

I agree there is a slight element of indulgence. I don't have a problem with teams parking the bus – one of the more absurd complaints of recent times has been Arsene Wenger's habitual whinge that teams don't come to the Emirates and play 2-3-5 – but I do have a problem with people moaning about Spain's part in this moral debate. 'You started it' is one of the more juvenile arguments around, but it kind of applies here. Spain didn't start this. They are trying to find the best way to win in the context of being faced with blanket defence (has any team ever inspired such fear and defensiveness in opponents? I can't think of one, certainly not in the World Cup) as well as the effective absence of Fernando Torres and the fact that most of the other attacking players aren't quite as sharp as they might be after almost two years without a break.

All in all, I think they are doing bloody well. We all dreamed of Spain winning the World Cup in a manner that would rival Brazil's 1970 side, but a number of things have ensured it cannot be that way. They will still be extremely worthy winners; unlike Holland, who if they win tonight with a dull 1-0 will be, in my always humble opinion, the worst World Cup winners of them all. RS

12.26pm One other question: what's your biggest regret of the tournament? I have two: that a terrifyingly strong Brazil side suffered one of the most inexplicable meltdowns you'll ever see outside a JD Wetherspoons, thus denying us the perfect final, and that Germany stopped playing at 4-1 against England. It was understandable in the context of future assignments, but the sight of John Terry chasing his own tail for another 20 minutes as the score clicked up to five and six – make no mistake, it would have done – would have sustained some of us into old age and beyond. RS

12.28pm In 11 hours' time, Guy Mowbray and the great Barry Davies will both have commentated on one World Cup final in their careers. That's not right, is it? RS

12.37pm "Re: 11.35 - so FIFA can't stretch to giving out more than one trophy when there are players on the same number of goals," says David Wall. "If the prize is shaped like the one for best player is this more evidence of a lack of balls on their part?" I'll honk to that. RS

12.47pm Here's another post from LArsenal23 on Ozil v Sneijder.

Rob, I take your point, but Ozil hasn't been that great for me. He was good against Australia, England and Argentina, but fairly anonymous against Spain and Serbia.Is it fair to say that in games when germany went ahead and space opened up he was a better player, but in the tighter games, he wasn't?

I think there's an element of that, because Germany collectively are so good on the counter-attack, but not enough to be indicative of any significant flaw in his game. Serbia I would simply write off as a bad game, and I thought he played pretty well against Spain. It's not like he had a bad game, giving the ball away all over the shop; he just didn't see that much of it. RS

12.48pm "Regrets," says Eddie Robson. "With all due credit to the teams who qualified, there were some who ground out the wins to qualify but weren't up to much when the tournament finally arrived. Whereas several notable absentees, though they only have themselves to blame fo not getting there, could have spiced up the event. Imagine if Russia and Egypt had been in England's group instead of the teams who beat them in the play-offs. And god, I wish Sweden had pipped Portugal. Apart from 45 minutes where they broke North Korea, Portugal were as bad as England for my money."

True that, although I disagree about Portugal (they were very accomplished defensively, an accusation you certainly couldn't level at England). It's always the case that some teams will not turn up at the World Cup, and you can often predict it beforehand (most realised a few months ago, for example, that Egypt would have made a much better fist of things than Algeria). But it can run both ways: in October 1989, the British press were united in their belief that Poland rather than England deserved to grace Italia 90. RS

12.59pm Below the line, johan1974 isn't happy with me.

So Rob, you're disappointed that Brazil lost theiir quarter final and believe Sneijder is mediocre. Big Holland fan then I take it?

You know following the Guardian blogs these past couple of weeks, with people slagging off Dutch football and/or Spanish football, bigging up Germany, and showing their disappointment about Brazil not reaching the final, I've come to one conclusion about the English: you love a failure and hate a winner.

Well I'm not English – sorry to shatter your theory – and, no, I'm not a fan of this particular Holland team as they have performed in this tournament. They have sleepwalked to the final, with the exception of one match against Brazil, and they only won that because of an unfathomable turn of events over which Holland, in my opinion, had very little control. Holland beat Brazil (or, rather, Brazil beat themselves), but anyone who seriously thinks Holland are a better team than Brazil needs their head read.

All this said, I'm impressed that my description of Sneijder as "an exquisite player, the sort of classy, minimalist footballer we all wanted to be as a boy" somehow constitutes calling him "mediocre". RS

1.07pm Biggest laugh of the World Cup? John Terry, obviously, but apart from that Maradona's general antics – particularly the "beef on the grill" quote and his take on man love – were good value. RS

1.16pm Here's an interesting comment below the line from binghambuy:

Rob, you say one of your major regrets of this World Cup is that England didn't lose by a greater margin? You work for a newspaper based in England and you have a chip of your shoulder about their national team? I am all for cutting out some of the hype and jingoism that surrounds an English World Cup campaign and for hearing a non English unbiased point of view but that isn't unbiased is it? Support whichever team you like, but don't be spiteful.

This is a blog, not a judicial review. Why on earth would I want to be unbiased? RS

1.19pm "Holland aren't better than Brazil?" sniffs Alex Cunningham. "Coming from the people who said Liverpool would be champions!? And who mainly favoured Brazil for the World Cup? Read my head: Holland were a bit lucky, but they're at least as good as Brazilright now. And like Inter aren't as good as Barcelona, they might win tonight anyway."

Holland at least as good as Brazil? Oh dear.RS

1.25pm "johan1974 is right about one thing though," writes someone who says his name is Devin Till. "The English, and their media, love a failure; they love to wallow self-indulgently in the glorious self-loathing uselessness of their national football team, so much so that it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, with excellent English players growing up to be feted – quite rightly – at club level but always with the assumption that they will bottle, or be tactically inept, or have the wrong kind of coaching, or just generally get it totally and utterly wrong in big tournaments. It is not a football thing. It is a cultural thing, for which we are all culpable. If I may remind you of a comment you made right at the start of this tournament - 'This England team is useless but may well make the semi-finals'. Which is an extraordinarily English thing to say; even from someone who says he isn't English."

I like the subtle implication of "who says he isn't English". While I take your point about the (other) English disease, I don't really see the problem with that particular comment. Has England bothered to beat Slovenia by two goals, they would have had to beat Ghana and Uruguay to make the semi-finals. You'd have backed them to do that maybe seven times out of 10, but that doesn't mean they're not utterly rubbish by the very highest standards. RS

1.30pm "And if Holland aren't as good as Brazil," begins Devin Till (again), "if the margin between the two teams is such a chasm, why was their game so tightly contested?"

I'm afraid this is such a ridiculous comment that I'm not even going to bother answering it. RS

1.33pm "Screw the overly pro-Webb and overly anti-Webb propaganda," says Tim O'Sullivan. "The truth is that it's a normal and boring decision that has become a stupidly big discussion point. The most important decision today is who got the Guardian MBM gig for the final? My money's on Glendenning producing some angry copy on Spain's attacks not going anywhere and Van Persie not doing anything."

I can reveal (not at all exclusively, given that it was in yesterday's paper and also because he's been slurring the news at anyone will listen around London for the last 24 hours) that it'll be done by Scott Murray, who thus makes history by becoming the first person to MBM two World Cup finals for the Guardian, both while high on paint. RS

1.35pm This is more like it, from Susanne van Kampen: the promise of joyous violence, and generous use of the word 'hup'.

Oh, let us not squabble too much on how good/bad Holland has been this tournament. Holland's going to win, and that's that. Tuesday I will be celebrating in Amsterdam, happily shoving people in the canals. I promise I'll leave the elderly and children alone. And the big guys. Well, I probably won't shove people.. Anyway: hup Holland hup!

1.38pm Sepp Blatter has opened his face again. Here what he said.

"You cannot manage a national team when you coach two or three months before the competition and this has happened in two of the associations, Ivory Coast and Nigeria. And therefore it would have been a miracle if they went through.

"We are bound by the best referees we have. We tried to get them on top but naturally referees are human beings and they commit errors like everybody.

"Empty seats yes but not empty stadia. Don't forget 95 per cent of all tickets have been sold. Not everybody came to the stadia. If you have seen in some of the stadia empty seats it came from hospitality, and we know hospitality does not work as we have expected because there is not the same enthusiasm as there has been for hospitality seats in other World Cups.

"We've survived the vuvuzelas, everybody has survived the vuvuzelas. I don't think we can just take them away. This is not only the African way, because all the visitors coming here have started to buy the vuvuzelas and in the final there will be not even 50 per cent African people in the stadium but everybody will have a vuvuzela.

"It was a World Cup on a new continent with a new culture and therefore it must be analysed on different levels, but if you look at the enthusiasm in Africa and also the repercussion in the world, if you look to the television audiences around the world, if you look to the fan-fests everywhere in the world then I have to say it was a special World Cup.

"All these fan-fests were not only because it was football but specifically because it comes from Africa. I cannot make a ranking of the World Cup but it was a very attractive World Cup and for me it was also a very emotional World Cup."

1.49pm This is interesting: Sky Sports News' predicted Spain team has Torres rather than Pedro. I'm pretty sure they had Pedro earlier this morning, so maybe one of their crack team of 7,421 reporters out in South Africa have got the inside scoop from some bloke on a street corner who has a hunch that Torres will play.

It's a really tricky decision. Clearly Pedro is in better form than the laughable Torres, but then when Pedro plays you have to put Villa up front, and he has been more effective as a left forward. But then if Villa plays as a left forward, Iniesta has to play a floating right forward, and he is surely better as a left forward. It's far too confusing. I need a lie down. RS

2pm Thanks as always for all the personal abuse below the line; well worth getting the minimum wage for. Feel free to carry on, but I would humbly suggest that a) you try to understand the concept of blogging before you slag someone off for expressing an opinion in a blog and b) you don't contravene the Guardian's community standards. Then your comment won't be moderated. Simples.RS

2.07pm Here's an interesting email from Neil Bennum.

"But Brazil weren't 'terrifyingly strong'. As you say, they suffered a 'meltdown' — which is another way of saying that they were tested, by a tactically astute and skilled team that didn't lose its discipline when it went behind after ten minutes, and they were found wanting when it mattered. A genuinely 'strong' team wouldn't have had a meltdown in the first place, no?"

Yet can we be certain, based on just one example, that Brazil were found wanting and inherently flawed? I'm not so sure. That's the trouble with World Cups: legacies are decided by the most minute details, and the collision of improbable events. Ask Rob Rensenbrink. I subscribe to the nobody-knows-anything school when it comes to football, and especially World Cups. I thought Brazil were awesome for four-and-a-half games, particularly that first half against Holland, and was pencilling them in as perhaps the third greatest World Cup winners of all, behind 1958 and 1970, when it all went wrong, big-time.

Thing is, look at Barcelona: for most of the 180 minutes against Internazionale, they were pretty poor, shockingly so either side of half-time in the second game. But they get other chances to prove themselves, a luxury not afforded international sides, and especially not Brazil. RS

2.41pm "Speaking of 'collision of improbable events'," begins Gretchen Lippitt, "aren't you reminded of The Improbability Drive, and a whale hurtling through space who might just be a relative of the winner-predicting Paul the Octopus? IMO Douglas Adams is having yet another laugh with his Hitchhiker friends.

(Easy answer: no.)"

2.45pm David Wall finds nail, hits it on head.

Re: 12.47 and Ozil: I've been similarly impressed by Ozil despite his odd quiet game (last night, the semi-final). And Lee Dixon hits the nail on the head praising his intelligence at playing that particular position in someone so young. What was especially notable about the game against Argentina was the way he seemed to let himself be marginalised. I think he was only directly involved in the fourth goal, but by allowing himself to be marked by Mascherano, and taking up peripheral positions where the Argentinian would have to follow him to, he opened up the space for others like Schweinsteiger to occupy (perhaps in the knowledge that Argentina had no other defensive midfield cover once the captain had been take away) and create their goals. Whether he did that on his own initiative, or whether he was able to follow through a plan formulated by the manager, it showed real guile.

2.47pm "Is it only Guardian writers who dreamt of being minimalist footballers when they grow up?" says Steven Randell. "I wanted to be Zico and thought of being glorious but if i had ever mentioned to my team mates I wanted to be 'minimalist' I'd have been punched and become a better man for it."

It's a fair cop. As a boy I wanted to be an all-action hero like Preben Elkjaer or Diego Maradona. I should have said he's the sort of player we'd like to have been once we worked at the Guardian for a few years and became a bit pompous and started gratuitously using the word 'cerebral'. But, yes, when I grow up I'd like to be Wesley Sneijder, Xavi or Andres Iniesta. The cerebral types. RS

2.50pm Thanks (if that's the right word) to David Keyes for this link. Holland are going to win the World Cup. It's official. (Warning: link contains about 731 bad words. guardian.co.uk/fitba does not condone such language, etc, etc) RS

2.52pm Here's a very good post, below the line, from byebyebadman.

For the sake of making it a good final I hope the Dutch score first tonight, ideally very early and before the game has settled into a pattern of Spanish possession punctuated by sporadic bursts upfield from Holland.

As to whether Spain are dull, what would really make football dull is if all formations and tactics were the same. A culture clash of styles is what used to be great about the World Cup and if you look around the tournament Spain are really the only side daring to do anything different (unless you count England's radical decision to play without centre-halves against Germany). If you can't beat 'em...tough.

Also if someone could please explain to me why a 1-0 win is inherently lucky I'd love to hear it. That reduces analysis of a match to looking at the scoreline and going 'Oooh, look, they only just won.' It's pathetic.

I think the game would benefit more from an early Spanish goal than an early Dutch one, but one thing's for sure: early goal please! RS

3pm Luis Aragones, who managed Spain to victory at Euro 2008, has made some interesting observations about the match.

"Whoever owns the midfield, owns the game. The midfield is where (the Netherlands) commands its game. But Spain has more players in midfield that can dominate then the Netherlands has. If Spain commands possession and plays at a high tempo then it's very possible they are going to beat the Netherlands.

"We don't have players who are very physical so that's why we decided to go this way since we have such a good team of technical players. We decided to make holding on to the ball our virtue to defend with the ball, to attack with the ball, everything centered on maintaining possession with everything stemming out of the midfield.

"Euro 2008 provided the important psychological lift for us and now the team has shown that in both the technical and psychological aspects that it's a strong team. Physically and psychologically, Spain are ready.

"The Netherlands always presents tremendous difficulties because they are such a technical team, with players like Sneijder and Robben who are their base. I think Capdevila is going to have to be careful because Robben is much quicker than he is. And in the centre, Puyol is going to have to keep a close guard on Sneijder."

3.05pm "Brazil's meltdown wasn't an improbable event," says Dan McNeal. "When you see a manager whinging histrionically after every call, right or wrong, while 3-1 up in a group-stage match you should know what's inevitably coming. An Italian friend calls it 'Trapattoni syndrome'."

Could you not also call it Mourinho syndrome? Or Keane syndrome? Didn't do them much harm. RS

3.08pm "RE: Holland sleepwalking through the tournament – I do agree that most of the tournament they have played disappointing football (though surely not anti-football, a strawman term if ever I heard one)," says Tony Ling. "But you would surely grant that the second half of the Uruguay game, praised by no less a Man of Import than Jonathan Wilson, was the apex of the Dutch involvement in this tournament, even if the opposition was not up to Brazil's standard. If they played like that against Spain today, I can only hope that nobody would have any complaints."

Really? I was bored witless after 70 minutes, thinking for the first time that Uruguay might actually get through. Then Maxi Pereira scored an own goal and Arjen Robben added an excellent third, but Holland only really played well for 10 minutes. RS

3.25pm Sean Ingle has been busy playing tippi-tappa, and the result is a fine blog: Where does South Africa 2010 rank compared to other World Cups? Since you asked, I'd say it's been the fourth worst – or, to put it another way, the best since 1998. I'd have it ahead of 1938, 2002 and 2006. It has been great fun – it's the World bloody Cup for haeven's sake – but history will note that it lacked a few important things: an epic match, an outstanding player, comeback victories (just four, as against eight in 2006 and nine in 2002), and a decent final. RS

3.34pm "With Brazil hosting the next World Cup it will be at least eight years until a normal Anglo football fan can enjoy football as a concept, don't you think?" asks Kris Sandnes. "Goodbye vuvuzela, hello samba and over-the-top lust for life. I just want to see gritty fotball, not beeing forced to enjoy it! (After all I'm a Norwegian Exeter City supporter, so I can only take moderate doses of football & happiness.)

3.37pm "Seems to me an early goal from Spain has every chance of effectively sealing the contest," says Phil Podolsky. "It could be a very similar game to the 2009 CL final, in that Barcelona's midfield maestros will simply pass the opposition to death, especially if given an early advantage. Yeah?"

Well it could, but at least Holland would have to come out. And there is no chance they will play with the same meek compliance and tactical ineptitude as Manchester United did that night. RS

3.40pm It appears that Nelson Mandela will attend tonight's match. "He's going to rest and try and get some energy for tonight," said his grandson Mandla Mandela. "He wishes to go to the stadium but we know with his age he can change his mind later on but he has expressed that he is coming to the stadium to come and greet the fans and go back home." RS

3.50pm "Any prediction of the outcome of today's final should come from a comparison of the two teams," says Lou Roper. "Who would you prefer in your XI among the Spaniards? Casillas, Puyol, Iniesta, and Villa to be certain (regardless if the out-of-form Torres or Pedro is selected), but otherwise it's unclear at best. Xavi and X Alonso, to my mind, have not done all that much (although the latter has kept that bloke in Row P alert with his attempts on goal) given expectations while Ramos and Pique aren't all that great (despite Pique having played in self-styled 'The Most Exciting League in the World'). On the other hand, I have a recurring vision of Robben tormenting the hapless left-back Capdevila (it seems Luis Aragones has had the same vision according to his pre-match analysis): Netherlands 2-1 Spain."

That's a dangerous way of appraising things, particularly in a World Cup that has been defined by the team rather than the individual. Remember those laughable goons on the BBC suggesting that only a couple of the Germans would get into England's side. That said, if I was picking a composite XI, it would be: Casillas; Ramos, Pique, Puyol, Capdevila; Xabi Alonso, Busquets; Pedro, Xavi, Iniesta; Villa. Based on that, it's too close to call. RS

3.52pm "I was just wondering if you or anyone at Guardian Towers knows who of the four players currently leading the World Cup top goalscorer table, who has the most assists?" says Quentin Selk. "This is apparently how Fifa will decide the award if players are tied at the top. Also does anyone know if this is taken into account by the bookmakers when paying out on top goalscorer bets? I've got a fiver on Forlan at 70-1..."

I'm afraid the leader is Thomas Mueller. The whole thing is, of course, an unacceptable farce from a complete shambles of an organisation, but as their word is final I'm sure bookies will go with that. As they will if Wesley Sneijder scores one goal tonight, taking him to four for the tournament and, according to Fifa, putting him one ahead of David Villa, Diego Forlan and Thomas Mueller, who all have five. RS

3.58pm This is a great comment from lambretinha.

After reading a lot of what's been written and posted about Spain's performance in this World Cup, I think I know how it will be like for Usain Bolt if, come next Olympics, he dares only winning 100m and 200m instead of going under 9:50 and 19:00 while smoking a fag and doing cartwheels midrace...

4.01pm Here's a good reason to want Holland to win tonight: to see the look of Johan Cruyff's face as he fully comprehends the fact that Andre Ooijer has a World Cup medal and he doesn't. RS

4.16pm The winner of the Golden Ball will be announced after the game. Precedent suggests it will be awarded to a player who has a complete shocker tonight:

2006: Zinedine Zidane – magic headbutt2002: Oliver Kahn – handling error for the first goal1998: Ronaldo – we'll never know1994: Romario – missed an open goal1990: Schillaci – didn't play1986: Maradona – didn't win the game on his own, as he did in the quarters and semis1982: Rossi – didn't win the game on his own, as he did in the quarters and semi1978: Kempes – fair enough1974: Cruyff – tossed around like a rag doll by Berti Vogts1966: Charlton – didn't win the game on his own, as he did in the semis1962: Garrincha – didn't win the game on his own, as he did in the quarters and semis1958: Kopa – didn't play1954: Puskas – equaliser wrongly disallowed

Etc and so forth. RS

4.20pm "This Golden Boot 'assists' thing is madness," says Eddie Robson. "Whilst they're at it, if they can't decide on who the goalkeeper of the tournament is, why not count up how many short passes they've successfully played to their own back four and use that as a tie-breaker? It's not the skill great goalkeepers are renowned for, but it's a skill nonetheless."

4.26pm "If memory serves, Spain's toughest matches came against teams that pressed in midfield and tackled often,' says Michael Clark. "I can't remember the Germans even attempting tackles, they just loped around politely. Netherlands has several good tacklers, not all of whom play dirty. There's a chance Holland can put Spain off its game."

A fair point, this. Van Bommel and De Jong are two unashamedly horrible bas playbreakers, who will have no compunction about winning seriously ugly. But I don't think Howard Webb will let them away with it: as my colleague Jacob Steinberg, he'll know all about De Jong from the Premier League, and there has been so much focus on van Bommel in the last few days that Webb has probably been up all night watching videos of him while simultaneously doing 1000 unbroken squat thrusts. RS

4.27pm I've just received the most triumphant email from Jonathan Wilson.

Just watched highlights of Forest v Luton, 1989 League Cup final. is it wrong that I'd totally forgotten about the existence of Tommy Gaynor? What a player he looked in that game.

That is masculinity, right there. It's true, though. Clough's late-era Forest were such a team that you tended to forget about most of the players other than Stuart Pearce and Nigel Clough. Remember Gary Crosby, Brian Rice, Franz Carr, Ian Woan, Steve Chettle, Nigel Jemson, Colin Foster, Toddy Orlygsson, Gary Parker and Terry Wilson. And of course Tommy Gaynor. There was such an emphasis on team play and counter-attacking (remember the gem in this game). Cloughie would have liked this year's German side. RS

4.34pm "Just want to give my two cents' worth about the alarming levels of power Fifa have over world governments," says B Maxwell. "The fact that Blatter can dictate to world leaders is quite concerning.Fair enough, the Nigerian leader was massively in the wrong about removing the national team from football, and justice was done in the end. However, I'm just a bit dubious how a man like Blatter - with a questionable moral compass - can exert any pressure on a world icon like Mandela...particularly after such a family tragedy."

4.55pm Just 155 minutes to go...

4.57pm If Fernando Torres scores tonight, and that's a big if on current form, he will join an elite club: OptaJoe points out that Ronaldo and the inevitable Gerd Muller have scored in both a World Cup final and a continental final (ie European Championship and Copa America). RS

5.05pm Wesley Sneijder and Robin van Persie are, as we know, not exactly BFFs, and here's a vaguely interesting stat: Sneijder has played 41 passes to Mark van Bommel in this tournament, 28 to Dirk Kuyt, 22 to Giovanni van Bronckhorst, 21 to Rafael Van der Vaart, 20 to his own shadow, 20 to Arjen Robben, 19 to Goldfinger from Austin Powers, 18 to Nigel de Jong – and only 17 to van Persie.

Van Persie has played 27 passes to Sneijder, almost twice the next best on his list: Van der Vaart with 16. RS

5.12pm Jonny Sultoon is a man after my own heart.

Rob - remember Fifa have previous in awarding goals to top scorers. I remember at least one of Ronaldo's "8" (e-i-g-h-t) goals in 2002 was an own goal where he got nowhere near it.

Oh he got near it – but he screwed it so far across goal that it was going for a throw in until Luis Marin bulldozed it into his own net. This is the goal. It's a complete disgrace and, because of it, Ronaldo is seen as the greatest goalscorer in World Cup history, when in fact he shares that honour with Miroslav Klose and the inevitable Gerd Muller. Fifa hand out legacies like they are prizes in a seaside raffle. What abject goons. RS

5.40pm: Just to fill you in, Scott Murray is on minute-by-minute duty for tonight's final and will be bringing you his unique take on events at Soccer City very shortly. So this blog will be coming to end in a tick. The Dutch fans would appear to be the more excited about tonight's final if this snippet of news on PA is anything to go by ... Amsterdam is full to bursting with fans already and police have had to block off the roads around the city to stop anymore supporters from entering. A police spokeswoman said: "Police helicopters are telling us that the city is now full yet people are still coming, by train, by car. They need to stop." It all sounds a bit dystopian.

6pm: That's it for the blog today - but there's a big game on tonight. You can follow it with Scott Murray live now. Thanks for all your comments and emails today, and enjoy the match tonight.